It pays to be persistant

Long story, feel free not to read

As many of you know, we've been waiting for an appointment for the youngest to go have an operation to have his tonsils & adenoids out.

Not long ago, we went through the scary thing of him stopping breathing during the night. Thanks to the alarm system that I rigged up, we knew about this straight away & things worked out well. He still ended up going to A&E in the back of an ambulance though. But because by this time he was well & truly awake, he was sent home again the same night. Understandably the NHS is overloaded, and they can't really keep him in on the off chance that it might happen again. Not nice, but that's life.

As a result of this, the next day we went to the GPs to explain the situation, and to rant about the NHS waiting list process. The GP thankfully understood fully that we weren't able to demonstrate how pathetic his breathing could be (other than an audio recording that I'd taken a while back), and wrote a letter of expedition to the consultant.

A couple of weeks ago, we called the hospital to make enquiries, and found out that they never received the letter!! Off to the GPs again, who this time printed the letter for us to keep, and sent it again to the consultant.

Yesterday, jen called them again. Still not recieved. However, this time, the woman on the other end of the phone simply said "Oh, I see we've had a cancellation, how's the 19th July sound?"

FAN-BLOOMING-TASTIC!!! That's how it sounds!

So the moral of the story, keep applying pressure, sooner or later something, somewhere will give.

Cant praise our Local Hospital enough with the boys problems, when he was 4 the wife always said he walked with a limp, then one day he woke up screaming with pain in his knee. Rushed him to A+E where a very clever Doctor X-rayed his hip. Turns out the boy had Perthes which is the stopping of the blood supply to the bone at the top of the leg and the joint in the hip socket ws malformed.
Usual procedure for this has been a broomstick plaster, but luckily there was an Australian Physiotherapist there who stopped them doing that and started him on a course of excercises and Hydrotherapy which has if not put right has given Luke a normal life without a limp. He will still need a hip replacement by the time he's in his early 40's but at least he wasnt in plaster for up to 16 weeks at a time.

My mum has been waiting a long time for various tests etc. She is a very obliging lady, and will not persist or pester as she has this respect for 'authority' and believes they are doing their best for her. I have told her many times to call, and make herself known....

Your story has inspired me to ring her and tell her what has happened. Whether it has sunk in or not is another story!

Hope the op is a success, and well done you. (ps, how can they 'not receive' letters, is it a mickey mouse business or what!)

Rant : I actually have very little respect for the nhs .... I don't like to knock it, and I want to believe in it .... but if you can see the pain that my mum is in right now .... you wouldnt make a cow wait this long for it to be sorted

Originally Posted by Tomcat

(ps, how can they 'not receive' letters, is it a mickey mouse business or what!)

I put "letter" but in actual fact it was a fax. The whole of the inbound appointments team deserve praise just for the attiude instilled into the one person on the phone IMO. No proof needed, just took our word for it.

I too am dubious about the NHS, but it's not the people that work in it (who are generally fantastic & put up with a lot of crap for little money), more the red tape that surrounds them.

I had the option of going private with Harry's operation, which would of meant that he had it done months ago. He's covered under my medical policy as he's a dependant, so they would of paid for it all. When I learnt that the operation would be done during the daytime, in an NHS hospital, by NHS staff, I refused to go any further with it. Just because I have the option of private medical cover, doesn't mean I want someone who could very well be more deserving of an operation than my son to be bumped off the list.

Money shouldn't allow you to jump the queue IMO.

Hope things go well with your mum, and if she doesn't pester the hospital about it, call on her behalf

I hear what your saying about it being red tape, and not the staff's fault etc. but at what point do these excuses/reasons become lame and difficult to bear. I am all for understanding and patience, but really it does feel like 'someone' is taking the p**s!

The gp, and the hospital don't seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet, and it is the patient that suffers.

I am not going to go on because these are personal opinions, and everyones experiences are different. I know the nhs do a great job a lot of the time, other of my own experiences comfirm this, but it is still difficult to consider this when you feel they are failing someone special.

So on a more positive note, you are on the right road now, and I'm am sure now you have their attention, they will do you superb service

Always had good service on the NHS.

I have rheumatoid arthritis, and have had this for at least 10+ years. Even though this is in remission, and I have been discharged from the hospital. I'm 100% sure I can call up my consultants secaraty and get an appointment very quickly and some tablets to get me settled down before long-term treatment can re-start.

Very good, 100%

Dan

Originally Posted by Sudoxe

Always had good service on the NHS.

I have rheumatoid arthritis, and have had this for at least 10+ years. Even though this is in remission, and I have been discharged from the hospital. I'm 100% sure I can call up my consultants secaraty and get an appointment very quickly and some tablets to get me settled down before long-term treatment can re-start.

Very good, 100%

Dan

I think once you are 'in the system' then they are very good.

Unfortunately for my mum they can't seem to diagnose her illness, and its as though no-one wants to take it under their wing and bl**dy find out what the problem is. She is passed from pillar to post, without anyone REALLY getting to the bottom of it.

By the way ... why when I use a quote, does my type go onto smaller margins?!

Originally Posted by Baph

I had the option of going private with Harry's operation, which would of meant that he had it done months ago. He's covered under my medical policy as he's a dependant, so they would of paid for it all. When I learnt that the operation would be done during the daytime, in an NHS hospital, by NHS staff, I refused to go any further with it. Just because I have the option of private medical cover, doesn't mean I want someone who could very well be more deserving of an operation than my son to be bumped off the list.

Money shouldn't allow you to jump the queue IMO.

On the other hand, had you used the private policy you'd have saved the NHS the money for that procedure which could then be spent on someone else. So it wouldn't have been that evil

[Bluepete]

My current knee injury is being treated privately by the job. My NHS GP said I needed an MRI scan and this would take about three months to get the appointment to see the knee doctor at the hospital, then another several month wait for the scan, then another several month wait for the results, then another several months wait for the operation.
Same day as the GP appointment, met one of the job doctors, lo and behold, 27 hours later I was actually in the MRI scanner, car in a reserved spot outside the private hospital where everything was clean and I was called Sir whilst being served fresh coffee by a lovely receptionist in an air conditioned, leather sofa'd waiting area.
One week later whilst at physiotherapy, results came in and I have the meeting with the consultant who will be doing the op. next week.
Time since injury? Five weeks. Time since seeing job Doc and getting appointment with consultant and having had an MRI scan? Two weeks.

Lucky old me eh?


PS, I would rather not have a ruptured medial collateral ligament though! It hurts, and not "man pain" this really hurts!

Pity I can't afford private health care for all of my familly. This really opened my eyes to what is possible.

I don't have the option of going private. Though £7.5k would send me to France for 3 weeks holiday during which I would have a completely new knee fitted...

... but thanks to my wonderful NHS consultant surgeon, who is trying everything conceivable first rather than just leaping in with a knife and bone saw, we now know there is extensive nerve damage that needs to be controlled first. Otherwise any operation could still leave me in the same state as now - or even worse.

I love the NHS, it's all that I've got.


But, the 'system' sucks. There are no two ways about it. Red tape, bureaucracy, poor management and insane financial targets/pressures must make trying to work within that system a living hell for people who just want to help others.
It used to be the envy of the world - one of the things that made this country truely great. Somewhere 'up top' they forgot that somethings just cannot be run as a pure business whilst adhereing to the aspiration of helping thy fellow man.
Sad really.